BRIDGETON – City officials on Tuesday night approved moving forward with phase II of the city park plan, which includes making things like an ice skating rink and zoo weddings a reality.

In a special City Council meeting, planner Cindy Williams gave a presentation update on her months-long work at branding and marketing 350 acres of the 1,100-square-acre park.

Her work — on contract with the city for $52,000 — ultimately calls for making the illustrious park a premier destination spot, with the promise of bringing in revenue and tourists.

"We're looking at the future because we think the park is a major asset in our community," Mayor Albert Kelly said before introducing Williams. "The first three people at the Splash Park were from Voorhees — that tells me that our Splash Park is being recognized as a regional event and that we can build on that."

He added, "We're the finest park in New Jersey. I truly believe it. Nobody has what we have in its entirety."

With that, Williams addressed the public, giving a full-length report of her work thus far, which has mostly been designing a website and other branding concepts the city can use in marketing the park.

"Brand is the essence of the project," she said.

A brand, Williams continued, is designed to aim toward long-term objectives while directly marketing short-term projects.

"Our goal is to deliver a destination park," she said.

A mock website with a logo and new title for the park was revealed, showing smiling faces above the words, "BPAZ. Bridgeton City Park & Zoo. So much to do!"

With flashy pictures depicting recreational, educational, historical, environmental and artistic activities, visitors would be compelled to visit the park for all its promised offerings.

Williams gave a list of 15 projects with recommendations for various projects the city can seek to make the park a destination spot, including:

•Arts in the park.

•Amphitheater restoration.

•Movies on an inflatable screen.

•Concerts, music festivals.

•Interpretive center. "There is the potential for an interpretive center like Bivalve is and even more so," Willaims said.

One recommendation she made was that whatever money the city raised with new park ventures be added back into park funds.

Some of the projects she recommended have already been pursued, such as the mini-golf course expected to open this summer.

"The things we already have are coupled with new things," Williams said. "We're collaborating them all together into a brand."

While city council had already heard the presentation ahead of Tuesday's meeting, it was the first time the public got a taste of where the city hopes to go.

But with no resolution on the agenda, Kelly pressed council to give an endorsement of the list of to-do projects so the city could move forward and go out for bids.

"Time is of the essence," Kelly said. "The longer we wait, the more expensive the projects become. We want to get these things moving so we can deliver."

Council — all three members present — unanimously approved the plan in an up-or-down vote.

Two members were absent Tuesday night.

Mike Zapolski Sr. had a prior commitment that took him out of town, and Bill Spence declared weeks ago he wouldn't attend as a show of solidarity with Zapolski, who had tried unsuccessfully to get council president Jack Surrency to reschedule the meeting.

But with Tuesday's endorsement, the city is now ready to send out bids for contracts.

An exact cost figure for all the projects couldn't be determined, according to city business administrator Dale Goodreau.